Category: CASTLEGAR & AREA

CHAMPION CREEK

A nostalgic black and white photograph showing Champion Creek schoolhouse, with a classic vintage car parked out front. The snow on the ground and rooftop adds to the historical ambiance of the scene, harking back to an earlier time in educational history.

Champion Creek was situated 8 miles south of Castlegar on the east side of the Columbia River. A Doukhobor community consisting of five villages located one quarter of a mile apart was established here. The school was established in 1922 and was located in a meeting room furnished with long desks and benches seating five […]

CAY CREEK

A black and white photo of Cay Creek School, an abandoned two-story brick building with a deteriorating roof and overgrown surroundings, standing as a relic of the past against the rugged hillside, illustrating the forgotten vestiges of early rural education.

This school was an unused frame building located in a Doukhobor village. In the Fall of 1939, 16 students from the Pleasant School were transferred to the Cay Creek School. It was created to serve the students in the southern end of Ootischenia. The school housed classes from grades 1 to 8. It was simply […]

CASTLEGAR PRIMARY

A black and white photograph from 1992 showing Castlegar Primary School, characterized by its single-story, flat-roofed structure, large windows, and an outdoor play area complete with a basketball hoop, portraying a typical educational setting of the late 20th century.

Prior to January 1967, the primary classes were held at the Twin Rivers Elementary School. The new school housed grades 1 to 4 for several years. In 1974, the school had a fire. Luckily because of its cement block construction only one classroom was destroyed and the others only had smoke damage. During Castlegar Primary […]

CASTLEGAR ELEMENTARY

A vintage black and white photograph depicting the exterior of Castlegar Primary School, featuring its distinct pitched roof and the multiple entrance steps. The building is set against a backdrop of sparse trees and a lightly forested hill, evoking the rugged charm of historical school architecture in a natural landscape.

In 1908, a few residents of the community that would become Castlegar formed a committee, bought lumber and built a one-room school on the property where Eremenko building presently stands. In 1923, a two-room school house was constructed on the property now housing the Courthouse and the School District No. 20 maintenance shop and bus […]

BROOKLYN

Brooklyn was a town constructed in the late 1890’s to serve the CPR railway being constructed from Castlegar to the Boundary region. It was situated on the west side of Lower Arrow Lake, 18 miles north of West Robson, directly across the lake from Deer Park. The school was built in 1898 and opened on […]

BRILLIANT SCHOOL NO. 4 & 5

A stylized image with a halftone dot pattern effect of Brilliant School No. 4, showing the school's distinct architectural features against a light backdrop, reminiscent of a historical newspaper print or a screen-printed photograph.

This was the one room school with a teacherage was located in Ootischenia. It burned down in 1930. An old abandoned cobbler shop was then put into use as a school. This school was once called the “Chebararnia School”. Chebararnia is the Russian word for leather or harness shop. About 40 students were enrolled from […]

BRILLIANT SCHOOL NO. 1

A black and white photo of Brilliant School No. 1, showing a gabled, two-story building with a covered front porch, typical of the rural school architecture from an earlier period, with a backdrop of a high earthen cliff that underscores the natural and somewhat isolated setting of the school.

Brilliant School No. 1 was determined to be the main school in the Brilliant area. It was built in 1910 on the Brilliant flats below what is now the tomb of Peter Lordly Verigin. It was a one-room school enrolling students in grades 1 to 8 with a teacherage attached. The teacherage was furnished simply […]

BLUEBERRY CREEK ELEMENTARY

A black and white photo showing Blueberry Creek School, a single-story building of the late 20th-century design, secured behind a chain-link fence and set against the natural backdrop of a mountainous landscape, capturing the essence of a school located in a rural or suburban setting.

The first school in the community of Blueberry Creek was built in 1916. It was a wood frame building, housing students from grades 1 to 8. From 1917 to 1923 the school was in full operation. During the next 10 years the school operated only when the enrollment was sufficient to warrant the hiring of […]

Do you have historical materials from School District No. 20, and former school districts No. 9 (Castlegar) & 11 (Trail)?
If so, please contact us HERE

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